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Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired worldwide rights to the documentary film “Somm: Cup of Salvation,” an exploration into the world of wine.

“Cup of Salvation” is the fourth film in the “Somm” documentary series. It follows a father and daughter on a mission to resurrect the forgotten grapes of their Armenian homeland. Their journey brings them to navigate through wrecked infrastructure and wartime farming, moving from the Caucus Mountains to secret vineyards in Iran.

This week, “Somm: Cup of Salvation” was nominated for a 2024 James Beard Award in the long form visual media category. The film is directed by Jason Wise, who also serves as writer and producer for the feature alongside Christina Wise. Jackson Myers, Eric Esrailian and Armen Kachaturian also produce.

“I am thrilled to continue our relationship with Samuel Goldwyn Films on the ‘Somm’ series. ‘Cup of Salvation’ is a very personal and dangerous film and there...

When Jason Wise set out to make the fourth documentary in his Somm series it was intended to be a history and religion-centric film — “the Planet Earth of wine” — but after meeting a winemaker named Vahe Keushguerian in Armenia those plans changed.

Somm: Cup of Salvation centers on Keushguerian and his daughter Aimee, now a winemaker in her own right, and their efforts to put Armenian wine on the map.

During the course of filming, Vahe went on a quest to Iran to find out what happened to vineyards of Rasheh grapes after the country banned alcohol in 1979. Without spoiling too much, the Argo-esque mission was, ahem, fruitful — and they’ve made the first wine from Iranian grapes in nearly 50 years under their Molana label.

Wise has become known for his wine docs — he has directed three previous Somm films and launched Somm TV, a subscription streaming platform dedicated to...

Somm TV, a streaming service dedicated to wine, food and travel, has set its 2022 programming slate, including the Covid documentary Saving the Restaurant and Napa origin story Judgment of Paris.

The subscription outlet launched in 2019, taking its name and DNA from the 2012 documentary Somm, which detailed the rigors of the competition to become an elite-level sommelier. It costs $6 a month, or $50 for a full year after a free three-day trial. Forgotten Man Films, the parent company of Somm TV, was founded by the team behind Somm and its sequels, including director Jason Wise, producer Christina Wise and cinematographer Jackson Myers.

A fourth Somm film is among the 2022 offerings. Subtitled Cup of Salvation, it explores the birthplace of wine, roaming the vaults of the Vatican and exploring the crossroads of wine, religion, and conflict.

Other titles on next year’s streaming slate include Saving the Restaurant, which examines America’s service industry navigating the Covid pandemic.

It’s easy to feel intimidated by wine. All those hard-to-pronounce names, so many vineyards to remember. That’s the world Elijah, played by Mamoudou Athie, wants to enter in the new Netflix movie “Uncorked,” about a young man who dreams of taking the brutally difficult master sommelier exam instead of taking over his family’s Memphis barbecue restaurant.

It’s also the way director Prentice Penny felt before he was invited to a wedding in Paris and somehow caught the wine bug. Penny’s journey to becoming a wine buff — taking an intro to wine class, reading books and watching documentaries — was part of the inspiration for “Uncorked.”

Early in the film, Elijah breaks it down for a wine store customer by relating wines to hip hop artists. Chardonnay is like the Jay-Z of wines, riesling is the Drake, while pinot grigio might be Kanye West, he explains, winning her admiration in the process.

Taking its title from a piece of advice its subject gave an up-and-coming co-star, Jason Wise's Wait for Your Laugh shows just how much more seasoned a comedian Rose Marie was than Dick Van Dyke when the latter's sitcom made him famous. A loving doc that will open the eyes of youngsters who know her only from The Dick Van Dyke Show if they know her at all, it's an unlikely outing for Wise, whose previous films Somm and Somm: Into the Bottle pointed toward a successful career making foodie-oriented docs. Though unlikely to reach nearly as broad an audience,...

A kidnapper gets more than he bargained for in Pet. Starring Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, and Jennette McCurdy, the psychological horror film has been acquired by Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films, with Us theatrical, VOD, and DVD release dates slated for December.

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA (October 4, 2016) – Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that they have acquired the psychological thriller Pet, directed by Carles Torrens and written by Jeremy Slater. The film stars Dominic Monaghan (Lost, The Lord Of The Rings Series), Ksenia Solo (Black Swan, Lost Girl), and Jennette McCurdy (iCarly, Sam & Cat). Pet had its World Premiere at the 2016 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films will release the film in U.S. theaters and on demand on December 2, 2016, and it will be available on DVD on December 27.

In the vein of Hard Candy and Gone Girl, Pet...

Iconic TV, stage and screen actress Rose Marie is a living legend whose star-studded career and life story are the stuff of Hollywood fairy tales.

A famous child star at age 4, Marie's made a mark on nearly every aspect of the entertainment industry, including Vaudeville, radio, film, Broadway, and television, whose fans best know her as plucky comedy writer Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

But just as fascinating as the 92-year-old performer's impressive résumé is her slate of famous friends – she had a four decades-long friendship with Frank Sinatra and she is the last person alive who...

Napa Valley Film Festival kicked off with (what else?) a wine movie. “Somm: Into the Bottle," the second documentary exploring the Exclusive Court of Master Sommeliers. To be distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, "Somm: Into the Bottle", as told through the eyes of the world’s greatest sommeliers and winemakers, raises the curtain on the seldom-seen world that surrounds the wine we drink and gives viewers close-up access to the most accomplished sommeliers in the world and to some of the most prestigious winemakers working today. By opening some of the world’s most rare bottles of wine, the viewer understands how a wine ages and just what happens in a cellar.

At the festival’s gala opening night party, filled with vintners pouring their wines accompanied by some of the best restaurants in the world supplying bite size hors d’oevres, Peter Goldwyn pointed out that the film is already number 22 on iTunes because of the fan base built up by Jason Wise’s previous film, “Somm” in which four sommeliers attempt to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. As Peter circulated through the crowd of the local bourgeoisie and filmmakers like Eric Troung whose 30 minute short is also screening here, I felt right at home…I love seeing new friends and old at these events.

So far, as a jury member, I have seen one film, “Life in Color” directed, written and produced by Katherine Emmer, along with producers Jason Berman, Anne Carey, Lance Johnson and Giles Clark and starring, as a lovable slob who grows up, Josh McDermitt, Katharine Emmer herself who could play a spoiled rich girl as well as the miserably inattentive nanny she plays in this movie, Adam Lustick a really perfect button-down successful comedian buddy of Josh, Fortune Feimster and Jim O’Heir. Katharine's directorial feature film debut, “Life in Color”, world premiered at South by Southwest 2015. It won Best of Fest - The L.E.S. Prix D'Or at The Lower East Side Film Festival 2015 in New York City.

I am now about to see the second film, “Tumbledown," directed by Sean Mewshaw, produced by Aaron Gilbert, Kristin Hahn and Margo Hand, written by Desi Van Til and Sean Mewshaw and starring Jason Dudikis, Rebecca Hall, Blythe Danner (!), Dianna Agron, Griffin Dunne (“Dallas Buyers Club” and “After Hours”!) son of Dominick Dunne and older brother of Dominique Dunne, Joe Manganiello and Richard Masur. Starz will release the film stateside. Director-writer Sean Mewshaw was raised in Rome, Italy and spent a decade in L.A. working on film sets where he was mentored by some of his heroes. He made a short starring Frances McDomand (one of my favorite actors btw), then moved to Portland, Maine with his wife Desi (who cowrote “Tumbledown”), where he directs theater wile developing film projects. “Tumbledown is his feature debut.

End of Day One and Beginning of Day Two, signing off, Sydney Levine, working in her suite at the Embassy Suites with my partner Peter Belsito sitting on the other side of the table after he hosted a pitch session with Scott Mandille.

The Napa Valley Film Festival has announced that Samuel Goldwyn Films’ "Somm: Into the Bottle" will have its world premiere as the Opening Night Film on November 11, 2015. The film is writer/director Jason Wise’s highly anticipated follow-up to his 2013 acclaimed film "Somm," which provided viewers with an illuminating look into the prestigious Court of Master Sommeliers and the massively intimidating Master Sommelier Exam. "Somm" also world premiered as the Opening Night Film at the Napa Valley Film Festival, at the festival’s second edition in 2012.

Through the eyes of the world’s greatest somms and winemakers, "Somm: Into the Bottle" raises the curtain on the seldom-seen world that surrounds the wine we drink by allowing viewers intimate access to the most accomplished sommeliers in the world, as well as to some of the most prestigious winemakers working today. By opening some of the world’s most rare bottles of wine, the viewer will understand how a wine ages, what happens in a cellar and exactly what oak in wine means. The film takes a look at how history has impacted wine, from the Romans, to Prohibition, to the World Wars and even current events such as the Napa Earthquake.

“We were honored in 2012 to host the world premiere of "Somm," so it makes it doubly sweet to be hosting the world premiere of the sequel, "Somm: Into the Bottle," said Nvff Executive & Artistic Director Marc Lhormer. “If you know and love wine, you know that when you plant a new vineyard, it takes five years until the grapes are good enough to go 'into the bottle,' so we're thrilled to open our fifth annual Napa Valley Film Festival with such a prestigious film.”

Filmmaker Jason Wise, a 2015 Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 Tastemaker, added: “The Napa Valley Film Festival provided an excellent launching pad for "Somm," and I’m very excited to be returning to where it all started with "Somm: Into the Bottle," I could not imagine premiering the film anywhere else, and I am proud to share it with the Napa community.”

The Napa Valley Film Festival’s Opening Night, Wednesday, November 11, will feature a pair of screenings of "Somm: Into the Bottle" . The premiere itself will screen at 5:00 p.m. at the Uptown Theater (1350 3rd St.) in downtown Napa, a historic art deco movie palace serving as the headquarter theater for the festival. Filmmaker Jason Wise will be in attendance, as will renowned sommeliers: Brian McClintic, Ian Cauble, Fred Dame, DLynn Proctor and Geoff Kruth, who are featured in the film and were also featured in "Somm." Admission will be granted to members of Nvff’s Patron Circle (memberships available) and other invited VIP guests. A limited number of individual tickets may also be available in advance. An encore screening at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Theater will be open to all festival passholders.

Nvff’s Opening Night Party will be held following the premiere screening at Napa’s Riverfront Promenade at the Napa River Inn.

A Forgotten Man Films production, "Somm: Into the Bottle" is directed by Jason Wise, written by Jason Wise and Christina Wise and produced by Jason Wise, Christina Wise and Jackson Myers. Executive produced by Diane Carpenter and William Fowler. Co-produced by Geoff Kruth. Original Somm cast members: Brian McClintic, DLynn Proctor, Dustin Wilson, Ian Cauble, Fred Dame, Geoff Kruth, Rajat Parr, Sabato Sagaria, plus sommeliers: Aldo Sohm, Paul Grieco, Madeline Puckette and famed winemakers: Jean Louis Chave, Peter Gago, Steve Matthiasson, Carole Meredith, Frédéric Panaïotis, Jean Trimbach, Silvia Altare and Aubert de Villaine share their insight and intimate knowledge of the industry in this captivating behind-the-scenes look at one of the most elusive businesses in the world.

Goldwyn plans an early 2016 release for the film. For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/sommdocfilm.

Read More: New Documentary Exploring the Exclusive Court of Master Sommeliers to Open This Summer The Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff) has announced Samuel Goldwyn Films' "Somm: Into the Bottle" will have its world premiere as the Opening Night Film on November 11. The film marks writer-director Jason Wise's sequel to his 2013 film "Somm," which had its world premiere as the Opening Night Film at Nvff in 2012. The official synopsis reads: "Through the eyes of the world’s greatest somms and winemakers, 'Somm: Into the Bottle' raises the curtain on the seldom-seen world that surrounds the wine we drink by allowing viewers intimate access to the most accomplished sommeliers in the world, as well as to some of the most prestigious winemakers working today. By opening some of the world’s most rare bottles of wine, the viewer will understand how a wine ages, what happens in a cellar...

The Lunchbox (movie)

It’s almost a given that a love for Indian cinema will eventually lead to a love of Indian food – so it’s no surprise that the Tiff Bell Lightbox has chosen to open their Food on Film series – a six-film event exploring food through film — with Ritesh Batra’s delightful 2013 film The Lunchbox. The film is lovely and funny and incredibly touching, and shows how a mis-delivered tiffin (lunchbox) brings together two seemingly disparate people — a neglected housewife (Nimrat Kaur) and a gruff widower (Irrfan Khan) on the verge of retirement from his civil service job — together.

Added to the joy of seeing a film is the fact that the series features a line-up of culinary experts who will engage in discussion of the films culinary themes, led by Toronto CBC morning host Matt Galloway.

Indian-born chefs, cookbook authors and restaurateurs Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala...

The Weinstein Company has set its release date for the Jake Gyllenhaal boxing drama. In other news, Directv Cinema is previewing Tracers, Samuel Goldwyn has acquired Somm: Into The Bottle and Vimeo has launched an on-demand publisher network.

Southpaw will open in the Us on July 31 and is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay by Kurt Sutter and Richard Wenk.

Directv is showing the Tayler Lautner Parkour thriller Tracers from now until February 18 on its pay-per-view movie service Directv Cinema – two months prior to theatrical release. The price point ranges from $9.99-$10.99. FilmNation handles international sales and Saban Film and Roadside Attractions will distribute theatrically in the Us in March.Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up North American rights to Somm: Into The Bottle, the follow-up to writer-director Jason Wise’s 2013 wine documentary Somm. The distributor plans to release this year.Vimeo has launched its Vimeo On Demand Publisher Network – enabling viewers to rent...

The longlist for the Best Song category in the Oscars has been announced – so what should make the cut?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the longlist of songs for its Best Original Song Oscar in 2014, ahead of the nominations for the shortlist on January 14.

The list features 75 songs written for movies over the last year, with artists including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, U2, Coldplay, Kings Of Leon, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and M83 all making the grade. Pharrell is included for his hit Happy, currently in the top 5 of the UK charts, which appears in Despicable Me 2, and other animated films make up a large proportion of those selected: Epic, Turbo, The Croods, Planes, Escape From Planet Earth and Monsters University all also get a mention.

The Great Gatsby, with its bold and incongruous soundtrack of modern musicians, gets five mentions for songs by Jay Z,...

I know very little about wine, and in fact I don't even drink it very often. And yet I was fascinated by the documentary Somm, about a handful of candidates for the extremely challenging master sommelier test, which many attempt and very few pass. I caught the movie at Hill Country Film Festival in May, and it opens today in Austin at Violet Crown Cinema.

Somm, the first feature-length film from Jason Wise, focuses on four sommeliers preparing for the test, starting three weeks out and going through the test weekend in Houston. They must pass three exams: theory and history, service and blind tasting. In between time with the candidates, other sommeliers and professionals in the wine industry check in on aspects of being a sommelier, tasting wines and preparing for this test.

The four candidates are fascinating to watch and easy to differentiate, all with distinct characteristics. Ian,...

The opening documentary film at the 2012 Napa Vally Film Festival, welcome to the most difficult test you’ve Never heard of…

Somm takes the viewer on a humorous, emotional and illuminating look into a mysterious world – the Court of Master Sommeliers and the massively intimidating Master Sommelier Exam. The Court of Master Sommeliers is one of the world’s most prestigious, secretive, and exclusive organizations. Since its inception almost 40 years ago, less than 200 candidates have reached the exalted Master level. The exam covers literally every nuance of the world of wine, spirits and cigars.

Those who have passed have put at risk their personal lives, their well- being, and often their sanity to pull it off. Shrouded in secrecy, access to the Court Of Master Sommeliers has always been strictly regulated and cameras have never been allowed anywhere near the exam, until now.

How much do you think you know about wine?...

Director Jason Wise takes moviegoers inside the elite world of wine tasting in our exclusive scene from Somm, debuting on iTunes and in theaters June 21. This clip shows some of the preparations a wine taster must go through before the Master Sommelier Exam, a test that only 200 people have passed in over 40 years. Leave that Franzia boxed wine behind and watch as one participant gets put through the ringer before this rigorous test of the taste buds.

Somm - Exclusive "This Sucks"

Written and directed by Jason Wise, Somm follows four men as they prepare for the hardest test you've never heard of: the Master Sommelier Exam. The highest honor in the world of wine with fewer than 200 candidates passing the Master Level in over 40 years.

Somm's subjects live and breathe wine -- you see how their desire to become a master sommelier becomes their driving force, superseding personal lives,...

A sommelier can incite intimidation, scorn, or trust, depending on who's drinking and who's pouring. Rarely, at least in America, do we take full advantage of proximity to those nerds with corkscrews. Somm follows four young men training hard to be Master Sommeliers, of which there are only 200 worldwide. Forget "lively pear"—these guys detect in wine label-unworthy essences of new tennis balls, wet wool, rotten rose petals, lime candy. They can blind-sip their way to a glass's country, region, vineyard, and vintage. But can they pass the ultimate test? Director Jason Wise has vintners and other experts chime in with ingenuity and humor about the perplexity of wine—its history, its vulnerability to everything: microbes, weather, technology, soil, human error, genetic...

Emir Baigazin’s Harmony Lessons won the 39th Seattle International Film Festival’s Best New Director grand jury prize on Sunday [9] as top brass handed out jury and audience awards.Scroll down for full list of winners

The Siff 2013 Best Documentary grand jury prize went to Penny Lane’s Our Nixon and Lucy Walker earned a special jury prize for The Crash Reel, while Kyle Patrick Alvarez took the Best New American Cinema grand jury prize for C.O.G.

In the audience awards, Henk Pretorius’ Fanie Fourie’s Lobola won the Best Film Golden Space Needle Award and Morgan Neville’s Twenty Feet From Stardom took the corresponding documentary prize.

The Best Director Golden Space Needle Award went to Nabil Ayouch for Horses Of God, while best actor was awarded to James Cromwell for Still Mine and best actress to Samantha Morton for Decoding Annie Parker.

The Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award was presented to [link...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the U.S. rights to writer/director Jason Wise's "Somm," a documentary following four men as they prepare for the Master Sommelier exam. The Court of Master Sommeliers was created 40 years ago and in that time there have been less than 200 candidates who have passed their master level exam.  The film introduces viewers to the secretive and exclusive world of wine that has never before opened its doors to allow cameras. Senior Vice President of Samuel Goldwyn Films, said "Jason has made an extremely entertaining film that anyone who has ever stumbled through a restaurant wine list will love. This is an amazing world and if you thought you knew something about wine, you don't." Goldwyn plans to release the film this summer.  ...